Help with Interactive Multimedia Maps

THL publishes custom-made interactive multimedia maps using Flash technology. These maps can be seen, for example, in the Sera Monastery, Drepung Monastery, and Meru Monastery websites. These maps allow for different types of information to be shown or hidden on the map, as well as clicking on features of the map to see textual data and images corresponding to what you just chose on the map.

Layers on the Map

Some maps have layers you can turn off and on. These are usually indicated by controls directly located on the map itself. For example, the Sera Monastery Map allows users to turn colors of and on which indicate the college affiliation of individual buildings. Click on the green "on" button below "college affiliation", and each building will be outlined in a color corresponding to the college with which it is affiliated. Click on the red "off" button, and the outline colors will disappear. It also allows you to to see the type of buildings through a solid color. Click on the green "on" button below "feature colors" and each building will be filled with a color corresponding to its type (kitchen, assembly hall, and so forth). Click on the red "off" button, and the colors will disappear.

Labels on Features in a Map

Maps generally have names associated with individual items on the map, whether these items are as big as countries, or as small as rooms in a building. Just place your cursor over a given item without clicking, and the name will appear - when you move your cursor away, it will disappear. Since the maps are often dense with information, this is the only viable way to view the names. Displaying all names at once will often produce an unreadable result due to the density of names in a small space.

Links to Associated Resources

Individual features on a map are often linked to associated resources, such as textual descriptions and/or multimedia files such as photographs. Put your cursor on the feature you are interested in and click. If available, information will appear corresponding to the chosen geographical feature in the right hand side of the screen. Generally, the name of the feature will appear at the top, then a brief set of links to any photographs, panoramas, or audio-video recordings, and then a textual summary of the feature.

Photographs are displayed as thumbnail images. Click on a thumbnail to see the larger photo, which will have a link "back to feature information" that takes you back to the home display for that feature to continue browsing other photos, or read the other information for that feature.